Mercedes-Benz Stadium is approaching its debut later this month. “At the end of the day, we know our competition is the living room,” said Steve Cannon, CEO of AMB Group. “That’s why the stakes of stadium design and construction have continued to go up.”STEPHANNIE STOKES / WABE

ATLANTA – The City of Atlanta announced that the Municipal Court of Atlanta located at 150 Garnett Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30331 will be closed for the remainder of the day due to a power outage caused by a traffic accident that knocked down power lines at 440 Whitehall Street SW.

The power outage is affecting the Government Center area, which includes the ATL311 Customer Service Center, the City of Atlanta Wellness Center, the Government Center parking deck and the City Plaza parking deck. Georgia Power is working to restore service to the area as soon as possible.

The City expects the ATL311 Customer Service Center to resume operations by 1:30 p.m. today. Please monitor www.atlantaga.gov webs ite for further updates.

The International, a Dota 2 tournament that is played annually at the KeyArena in Seattle. Photo obtained via Wikimedia Commons

Georgia State University has announced the introduction of eSports on campus for students who are competitive gamers.

GSU is now part of the National Association of Collegiate eSports (NACE), which has 33 affiliated varsity eSports programs, some of which grant scholarships, including UC-Irvine, Western Kentucky University and the University of Utah, according to an announcement from the university.

“Georgia State students will be eligible to compete for team positions in competitions that will happen in early September,” the university said.

The university is also now part of the Georgia Esports League (GEL). Tournament play begins in September.

“Along with Georgia State, students from Georgia Institute of Technology, Kennesaw State University, the University of North Georgia and others will compete in the games ‘Paladins’ and ‘Brawlhalla,'” the University said.

Students will also participate in broadcasting, production and marketing of tournaments.

Here’s the full announcement from GSU:

ATLANTA–Georgia State University has introduced programs for students interested in eSports, organized multiplayer video game competitions that are often broadcast, and which have spurred the development of collegiate teams at institutions across the United States.

Georgia State has affiliated with two organizations that enable national tournament competition and regional play:

– The university has joined the National Association of Collegiate eSports (NACE) and its 33 affiliated varsity eSports programs (scholarship granting NACE universities include UC-Irvine, Western Kentucky University and the University of Utah). Georgia State students will be eligible to compete for team positions in competitions that will happen in early September.

– Georgia State is also among Georgia universities starting the Georgia Esports League (GEL), which begins tournament play in September 2017. Along with Georgia State, students from Georgia Institute of Technology, Kennesaw State University, the University of North Georgia and others will compete in the games “Paladins” and “Brawlhalla.”

Beyond game play, the eSports efforts include student participation in broadcasting, production and marketing of eSports and tournaments, coaching, student management and game development.

“The skills developed by eSports-interested students are the very skills most needed for success in the 21st century economy, including collaborative soft skills and computer coding,” said David Cheshier, director of the Georgia State Creative Media Industries Institute. “We see this initiative as building essential links to emerging creative careers in animation, 3D and immersive world creation, and other media industries.”

Georgia State is organizing practice suites, a venue for tournament play, and offering a small number of scholarships to supplement HOPE Scholarships for those qualifying for NACE tournament play. GEL plans to provide scholarships to students winning statewide events.

“We’re excited to welcome Georgia State University to NACE,” said Michael Brooks, NACE executive director. “Georgia State represents our second institution in as many weeks to join out of the state of Georgia. I’m certain their leadership in eSports will serve as the model of varsity eSports in the southeast for decades to come.”

“We are honored that Georgia State has become one of the Georgia Esports League’s inaugural members,” said Andrew Greenberg, president of the Georgia Game Developers Association, the organization sponsoring GEL. “This gives its students the chance to earn both scholarships and internships, as well as compete with varsity college teams around the state. Georgia State clearly recognizes its students’ interest in eSports. We have no doubt this means even more smart, talented students applying to the university.”

Georgia State will offer fall orientation sessions and competitions that will fill team slots with the most talented players. The university will start this fall by connecting students to League of Legends and Smite competitions, but students playing on other platforms are also encouraged to join.

In 2016, more than 90 million viewers watched eSports tournament finals. The tournaments are often televised, in much the same way as physical sports are, and streamed online, with competitors reaching for millions in prizes at some tournaments.

“ESports are both the most rapidly growing field of sports and also one of the best ways to get students interested in technology,” Greenberg said. “Georgia State has become one of the first schools to recognize the link between eSports and academic achievement. We are delighted both with its role as one of the Georgia Esports League’s inaugural members and the opportunities it is providing its students.”

There will be a “Paint Jam” at the Krog Street tunnel on Friday to protest white supremacists and neo-nazis.

“Let’s send a message that hate will not be tolerated in our city! Come join us to paint a message to these despicable alt-right/neo-nazi fools,” the event announcement says. “Not an artist: no worries, Any level of skill welcome – We will provide about 70 cans of paint and about 10 gallons of various colors. Feel free to bring more – more paint means less chance for this to be ignored! Please bring extra brushes, rollers, and paint trays if you have them!”

The event begins at 5 p.m. on Aug. 18 and ends at 10 p.m. The tunnel is located at 1 Krog St NE, Atlanta, GA 30307.

The event will be kid-friendly and there will be an interactive mural project for the children who attend.

The event announcement adds, “Let’s stand in solidarity against bigotry!”

The Zero Mile Post marked the meeting of two railway lines and possibly the beginning of the city of Atlanta. Zero Mile is a series of sometimes fictionalized and sometimes real stories based on life in Atlanta, Georgia.

By Nicki Salcedo, contributor

On the news, images of men carrying flames flash on the screen.

I am hated again. They want me to die. They want to hurt and kill me. Again. I am not hiding in an attic. We haven’t been moved to internment camps. Yet. I wait to hear the sounds of dogs barking as they chase me. I haven’t been hunted. Yet. Still they sniff for my blood.

I think of my grandmother. Is this what she wanted for my life? Was the land of opportunity all that she hoped for?

I think of your grandfather. Were the trenches cold? Did he fight for our freedom?

I think of Moses, our teacher, the Egyptian prince. Did he fight against brutality and slavery? Did he escape oppression and stand at the edge of the Red Sea?

My grandmother, she leads me back to the man they call president. She cared for his children. She was a nanny, domestic help. She cradled his babies. I’ve been thinking about all my grandmother did for us. Those babies she held are not her legacy. I am.

Your grandfather fought in World War II. He fought and killed. Killing was the thing that made him a hero, but he came home shell-shocked and scared. He kept his battle scars secret until he died. Even then he knew that hatred had a price and killing killed a part of you. Your grandfather fought against tyranny. He killed and he died. It was for me and for all of us. It was a different kind of fighting and different flames.

He did not die so I could be hated.

Your daughter fought in Afghanistan. Your son in Vietnam. Your uncle in Korea. Your great-great-grandfather held a musket. They told him to fight. He didn’t completely understand the reasons. Neither do we. We don’t understand. No one told him both sides could be wrong in a way. I’m not liberal, I’m not conservative. But hatred is not right. What makes us rage? What make us fight?

I want to look away from the news. Instead I watch men carry flames in the night.

Your grandmother picked cotton. She was white. You know from oral history, not school, that white people picked cotton. You know that Koreans came to Georgia a long time ago. You know that Jewish people help build Atlanta. We have all been on our knees. Every one of us.

We all know lack and wanting. Fighting and flames. We don’t understand hatred.

They want me to die. I am hated again. You are also hated. Your skin, your religion, your love is so dangerous. Again. They want to destroy us. We ought to die.

I ought to die.

I’ve been thinking about it.

Maybe I shouldn’t be here. My grandmother sacrificed her whole life, so I could have more and do better and still be hated.

They want me dead. They want my friend Christian dead. He teaches kids math. They want my friend Dina dead. Her God has a different name.

It’s not just hate. They want to kill us. Free speech is important. I don’t mind angry words. They want to be free to hurt and free to kill. You need to know this. They won’t be happy until the attics are empty, the fields and factories silent, and the whole world is underground.

Maybe I should die. You bristle at words like abortion and suicide, but accept the kind of hate that leads to murder. They are coming for us all. You forget, if given the chance they will kill you, too.

If they killed me would you say it was wrong? I am asking for a friend. The friends who are silent.

I am asking those eyes filled with rage, hate, anger. What do they want? I would give it to them. I would listen to them if they said anything other than rage. If they had a request other than me beaten and dying, I would help them. I would take their hurt away, even though they hate me. Even though their eyes are already dead. All those dead eyes, silver mirrors for the flame.

Who decides who should live and who should die? The soldier, the mother, or the men in firelight. Who decides to carry the flame?

I want you to say, “This is wrong.” I am asking the ones who’ve never said it. The ones who feel safe and distant from both the rage and the fear. The raging ones will always rage, the protesting ones will always protest. I need help from the ones who have never raged and never protested.

Sometimes the protest happens in the boardroom and across the dinner table. You don’t have to go out into the night with fists held high to fight. I want you to say, “This is wrong” in the face of those who say it is right.

Silence is also contagious. It has an echo that cannot be ignored.

I will end up dying.

Some days I don’t mind the thought. Don’t tell me this is wrong when you won’t denounce the hate that causes it.

I am guilty of many things. I long for death. I long for change. I long for peace. I am not more worthy of this life than any other person. I know the privilege of happiness. Every day I go on my knees and pray. I give thanks to this God and those ancestors who sacrificed everything so that I can suffer less. I am guilty of optimism. I am guilty of hope. I am guilty of having a voice of ink on paper. I don’t apologize for the things I am.

On Sunday I should have been in church, but I sat in bed thinking about Moses and fighting and flames. Those men holding torches are blocking the Red Sea.

Maybe I should be forced to leave this country, put back into slavery, I should be whipped and killed.

I think of Moses. They would have hated him, too.

They can’t take my flag, my worth, my life. It is my flag. I want it back. It is my fire. I know how to blaze.

Hate me. There are so many reasons to despise me. I enjoy picking apples and making homemade apple pie. I like to dance. I hold the door for strangers. I can catch a firefly, but would never put one in a jar. I have tasted honeysuckle and tears. I have stood through storms and not blinked for lightning. I have worked and worked and worked to make this city better, this country better, this planet better.

Now I think about flames. And Moses. And fighting. I think about all our grandparents did for us. Optimism and hope are not enough. I need your voice in the quiet hallways of your church and during lunch with your friends and at family reunions. I need every kind of warrior and every kind of fight.

I want our hearts to be healed. But maybe I am wrong. If everything catches fire, maybe everything should burn.

Nicki Salcedo knows the loops and the back roads of Atlanta. She is a novelist, blogger and working mom. Zero Mile stories appear on the Atlanta Loop on Wednesdays.

A proposal to change zoning on the Atlanta Beltline would place new restrictions on private property owners.

The proposal, which is currently being revised, would require people who own property adjacent to the Beltline to have an “access agreement” to the trail. The agreement would be reviewed by the city’s Office of Planning. It would limit fence heights on the trail to 5 feet. It would also forbid property owners from creating private open space and prohibit drive through service windows within 500 feet of the Beltline corridor.

A spokesperson for the Beltline said on Wednesday that the access agreement is not new, even though a fact sheet on the ordinance indicates that it is. She also clarified other parts of the proposed changes.

“The requirement for an access agreement is not a ‘new’ requirement,” the spokesperson said. “It is only new to being added to the overlay district standards document. It has always been the requirement that anyone seeking access to Atlanta BeltLine property to enter into an agreement with ABI. This has been triggered during the permitting phase of projects. We added it to the Overlay so that people would know much earlier in their development process. In fact, we have several access agreements in place around the Atlanta BeltLine corridor. Additionally this requirement applies only to adjacent properties that want to build a direct connection to the Atlanta BeltLine trail from their property.

“The access agreements are not reviewed by the City’s Office Planning in our capacity as the property owner. The fence height requirement is not being ‘limited’ but it is being ‘increased’ from 42 inches (as it is currently stated in the BeltLine Overlay) to 5 feet for residential properties zoned R1 through R5, and RG, that are adjacent to the BeltLine. The increase in fence height is to provide safety and security.”

The proposed changes were on the agenda for the July meeting of Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Unit F, a citizen advisory board for the city. It was deferred until August because of the length of July’s meeting, but the board chair said the the city’s Office of Zoning and Development pulled the proposal from the August NPU meeting. She wasn’t sure why.

It’s unclear whether the changes are being proposed by the city of Atlanta or Atlanta BeltLine Inc, which oversees the Beltline. A statement provided to Atlanta Loop by the city and ABI on Tuesday evening describes it as a collaborative effort. According to a spokesperson, the proposal was pulled from the NPU agenda based on the initial feedback.

“The BeltLine Overlay District Regulations were established in 2007 in order to establish guidelines for anticipated development along the then proposed Beltline,” the statement says. “Over the past 10 years, the city has experienced increased development along the Beltline and within the overall corridor. During the review of these development projects, it has been determined that many areas of the regulations need to be amended to respond to current development trends, allow for greater flexibility and parking-related matters. These technical corrections are a collaboration with the Atlanta BeltLine and City Planning. Preliminary feedback received Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) suggest the need for further updates. Additional analysis is being conducted and further amendments will be forthcoming.”

NPU-F provided a summary of the proposed changes and drafts of the proposed ordinances:

Editor’s note: Atlanta Loop reached out to Atlanta Beltline Inc. to answer questions about the proposed changes to the Beltline corridor zoning on Aug. 11. After repeated attempts to get ABI to answer questions, the organization emailed a statement at 8:16 p.m. on Tuesday evening and did not provide an opportunity to ask follow up questions. Atlanta Loop strives for accuracy in its reporting and did so in this case, but ABI also has a responsibility to communicate clearly to the public, which includes the press, and give accurate information in response to questions. We gave ABI ample opportunity to do so prior to the initial publication of this story on Aug. 15. We published a story based on the best information available at the time.

“The Peace Monument is owned by the City of Atlanta, and is managed by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and the Department of Parks and Recreation,” a spokesperson for the city of Atlanta said. “As such, the City is responsible for restoring the public art and we are currently reviewing our options.”

The Peace Monument in Piedmont Park depicts a Confederate soldier looking up at an angel figure holding an olive branch. Some protesters spraypainted the statue, had placed a chain around it and broke a piece off.

Richard Straut, commandant of the Old Guard of the Gate City Guard, which holds a rededication each year for the statue, said he’s like to see it restored.

“It’s very disheartening,” Straut said. “That monument was dedicated to usher in peace between North and the South following the end of the Civil War.”

“To deface that monument is anything but peaceful,” he said.

Gordon Jones, senior military historian at the Atlanta History Center, said The Peace Monument, which was put up in 1911, differs from other monuments that commemorate the Confederacy.

“Its purpose was slightly different. It’s not really to commemorate the Confederacy as much as it was to commemorate the Confederacy re-entering the Union,” Jones said. “It’s categorized with other sorts of peace monuments around the world.”

However, at the same time, he said it’s important to see the context of the time when the statue was erected.

“There is a certain extent to which you could say, well yes, it’s reconciliation, but it’s only reconciliation for whites only and African-Americans are still left out of the picture to some degree,” Jones said.

Atlanta police said they were not able to identify anyone who damaged the statue.

TIKD promises to reduce the cost of traffic tickets. The company said the fee it charges will always be cheaper than the actual fine and a spokesperson for the company says it will pay the ticket completely if the ticket is not dismissed.

So how does TIKD reduce the cost of traffic tickets?

According to CNN, the company hires lawyers to fight the tickets in court. The company makes money from the difference between the customer’s fee and what the company pays lawyers and courts, CNN reported.

But the city of Atlanta is urging caution when using the app.

“The Municipal Court has been made aware of a user complaint where the TIKD-assigned attorney did not appear, and the citation holder was required to pay for their citation, in addition to the fee paid to TIKD,” a press release from the city says. “Neither TIKD nor any similar entity can guarantee ‘a reduced’ fee for any traffic ticket. The Atlanta Municipal Court is not bound by any agreement a defendant may have with TIKD, or any similar entity.”

If the attorney doesn’t show up to court, the person receiving the citation could face consequences, the city says.

“The Municipal Court strongly recommends any individual considering TIKD or similar services to be in constant contact with the attorney assigned to their citation or citations,” the press release from the city says. “The Court recommends users ensure that either they or their attorney are present at court on the assigned date. Failure to do so can result in additional penalties to the citation holder, a suspended driver’s license and the issuance of a bench warrant for arrest for failing to appear in court.”

A spokesperson for TIKD said the city’s press release contains inaccurate information.

“TIKD does not guarantee that a customer’s fine will be reduced,” the spokesperson said. “What TIKD does guarantee is that drivers who use its services will always pay TIKD less than the face value of their fine. All drivers that use TIKD’s service are represented by an independent lawyer who is responsible for handling the legal proceedings for resolving the driver’s ticket. TIKD encourages its customers to communicate with their lawyer if they have any questions about their individual ticket, including appearances in court.”

“Since TIKD launched in Georgia at the beginning of July, the company has provided its services to more than 500 traffic ticket holders in the region and continues to see demand grow,” the spokesperson added.

In its marketing materials, TIKD CEO Chris Riley says, ““We only accept minor traffic tickets, like those issued for basic moving violations and parking tickets. We are here to help the person who couldn’t find a nearby parking spot and blocked an intersection to quickly drop something off as well as the individual who hit the snooze button too many times, was running late for an important meeting and cruised through a stop sign. We all make these types of mistakes and now TIKD makes paying for them cheaper, faster and much more convenient.”

“I do find their marketing strategy that it is OK to run a stop sign because you are late for a meeting or to block a road because it is convenient for you pretty bad reasons for violating traffic laws,” she said. “I would think the app would encourage bad drivers to be even worse drivers, therefore expanding the possibility that good drivers, pedestrians and cyclists would be subject to injury or property damage.”

When asked to respond to Merriss’ criticism, the company spokesperson said, “TIKD doesn’t take moral hazard tickets. They are for the Everyman when life gets in the way.”